Despite the fact that the global hospitality industry is powered by a workforce that is 70 per cent female, it has not done much to help womengain seniorpositions, a new report by a group of tourism companies and non-profits has found.
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The study, titled ‘‘Women in Tourism and Hospitality: Unlocking the Potential in the Talent Pool’, found that businesses will find it hard to stay competitive in a booming industry that is set to create 73 million new jobs by 2022 if they do not capitalise on the full potential of women.
Its authors, citing analysis by global consultancy McKinsey & Company, said there is a strong business case for gender diversity at senior levels in the hospitality industry.
Since women make the bulk of purchasing decisions for households, they demonstrate a stronger customer orientiation; the diversity they bring to the table also lends innovation and creativity, as well as new skills, to the workplace, said the report.
The report was produced by the Hospitality Industry Pipeline (HIP) Coalition and launched at the Women in Tourism and Hospitality Forum in Hong Kong on Thursday. Both the coalition and the event in Hong Kong are sustainability initiatives by global beverage giant Diageo.
Sam Fisher, president of Greater China and Asia, Diageo, acknowledged that gender diverse leadership teams deliver better financial performance for companies. And yet, “women are still underpaid, under-utilised, under-educated, and under represented in the industry,” he said.
Despite making up a majority of the hospitality workforce, women hold less than 40 per cent of all managerial positions in the industry worldwide, own less than a fifth of hospitality businesses, and occupy less than 10 per cent of corporate board spots in publicly listed hospitality companies.
This is due to various factors including workplace cultures that make it difficult for women to balance work and family responsibilities; cultural traditions that prescribe stereotyped educational routes and career roles; and discrimination against women in hiring and promoting practices, among others.
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We know gender diverse leadership teams deliver better financial performance for companies.
Sam Fisher, president of Greater China and Asia, Diageo
Women may therefore find themselves typecast into jobs that are unlikely to lead to senior leadership roles, such as housekeeping, front office, and human resource management.
The report presented a set of solutions to overcome these barriers, drawn from best practices by member companies of the HIP Coalition, including Accor Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, among others.
For example, the InterContinental Hotel Group has a programme called ‘Best Offers from Hometown’, which allows employees to live close to their parents but continue working for the company. China’s one child policy poses a heavy responsibility of caring for elderly parents on working adults, especially women. The programme helps ease this burden.
The main beneficiaries of this scheme have been women in managerial positions, said the report, which added that similar schemes that allow individuals to meet personal obligations without compromising their career goals would result in more loyal and motivated employees.
In Cambodia, the Sala Bai Hotel and Restaurant School - also a member of the HIP coalition - runs a free vocational skills training programme for young Cambodians from underprivileged families to equip them with skills in restaurant service, front of house, housekeeping, and cooking.
The school gives priority to girls to help them overcome their lower access to education, and reports that all trainees have found a job after completing their training.
Such a programme demonstrates how young people can be given the opportunity to progress into positions of responsibility in the industry, said the report.
Other suggestions made by the Coalition included a call for the government to support policies which help create opportunities for women in hospitality and for hospitality courses to make sure that gender issues are included in the curriculum.
Fisher hoped that the paper would “raise awareness of the pressing talent issues facing the hospitality sector and lead the industry to address them through diversity, thereby growing communities and businesses”.
Professor Tom Baum from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, one of the paper’s research partners, added that tourism is a major income source in Asia, and the success of the industry affects many stakeholders such as businesses, communities, and governments.
“These stakeholders have a vested interest in enabling the continued growth of the industry and therefore share the responsibility for a healthy talent pipeline,” he said.
